DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant)
We propose to exhaustively search and evaluate the rich databases that exist
in the form of tobacco litigation documents in the state of Minnesota, and in
Guildford, England; as well as the Internet Sites dealing with tobacco and
tobacco smoke of the four major U.S. tobacco companies, the Tobacco Institute,
the Council for Tobacco Research, the U.S. House of Representatives Commerce
Committee, the State of California, and Online Tobacco Documents of Michael
("Tac") Tacelosky. We specifically intend to extract citations of industry
research on carcinogenic N-nitrosamines, especially the nicotine-derived N-
nitros-amines in the changing cigarette (cigarette engineering and its
consequences for the smoker), and on tobacco additives. Since the first
epidemiologic documentation of a link between cigarette smoking and lung
cancer in 1950, the make-up of the U.S. cigarette has undergone drastic
changes. It has been established that the addictive nature of nicotine is a
major reason for sustained habitual use of tobacco, and that nicotine-derived
N-nitrosamines are major carcinogens. The tobacco industry over many decades
publicly denied that the nicotine dependency exists. It also rejected the
fact that cigarette smoking is causally associated with the risks for cancer
of the lung, upper respiratory tract, pancreas, renal pelvis, and urinary
bladder, and that it increases the risk for coronary artery disease, chronic
obstructive lung disease and stroke. In spite of this official stance,
industry scientists have undertaken research that is germane to the study of
nicotine addiction, and to product changes designed to "minimize" health risk
for the smoker. This required increased use of flavor additives and it is
undocumented whether combustion products of such agents add to the toxic and
genotoxic potential of cigarette smoke. We plan to extract from the cited
documents information on invaluable baseline research that points the way to
future research needs; whereby we aim to reduce tobacco addiction and tobacco
smoking, and to minimize the risks associated with tobacco use while addiction
persists.